


Can I Be Close to You

by pansythoughts



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, implied sexual situations, love bites/hickies, poly negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 02:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11705040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pansythoughts/pseuds/pansythoughts
Summary: On Monday morning, unbeknownst to either of them, Chiaki and Kaoru both walk into class 3-A with identical hickies.





	Can I Be Close to You

On Monday morning, unbeknownst to either of them, Chiaki and Kaoru both walk into class 3-A with identical hickies.

The bites are particularly placed right above the left side of their collar bone, half on the raised groove of the bone itself. Both resemble, rather distinctly, a bite mark, with teeth, strangely enough, somewhat visible. On anyone else, the placement of the hickey wouldn't be particularly problematic; a summer uniform shirt should, generally speaking, cover that area. Unfortunately for them, neither Kaoru nor Chiaki wear their shirts buttoned to that point.

Eichi is the first to notice, but merely smirks at the sight, rather than say anything. He does, however, immediately elbow Keito, and gestures subtly in the direction of the newly entered Chiaki, then back to Kaoru’s desk. Keito cottons on immediately, but scowls rather than smirks. He thinks, not for the first time, that Eichi is disgustingly immature, and says as much, low enough that only Eichi can hear. Eichi chuckles, knowing he’ll be able to draw Keito in to gossiping about it at lunch time.

Shu notices next, but rather than remark on it aloud, pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to Rei, complaining about how vulgar the display is, how horrific 3-A is as usual. He’ll be repeating this into a cup phone later, but he likes to complain in multiple mediums, when possible, to ensure his message gets across.

Madara is excused absent, yet again, which makes Izumi the last class member present to see it (besides Kaoru and Chiaki themselves, of course).When he looks up from complaining about his morning to Arashi via text to greet Chiaki, who's making his way to sit with Izumi and Kaoru as class starts, as usual, he notices Chiaki’s, and does a double take back to Kaoru’s collar bone.

The only reaction Izumi can muster on a Monday morning at the sight of matching hickies on his classmate’s necks is, succinctly, “Oh, Hell.”

~~~ 

At lunchtime, Izumi sets down his (homemade, diet friendly) bento on Kaoru’s desk with more force than absolutely necessary, and presents his second and third favorite concealers to Chiaki and Kaoru, respectively.

“Ok, assholes,” he begins, calmly and pleasantly, “spill. Why do you have matching hickies? And please for the love of decency cover them up like the rest of us, god.”

Chiaki jumps at this, while Kaoru’s hands fly up to cover his collar bone. Both begin to turn pink.

Kaoru is the first to recover. “In my defense, I thought my collar covered it,” He says, with some conviction. Chiaki nods in agreement, obviously much more embarrassed, and sheepishly takes one of Izumi’s offered concealers. 

“That doesn't answer my question though,” Izumi continues, not looking up from his lunch. “Are you two sleeping together?”

A chorus of embarrassed protests and vehement denials meet that question. Izumi thought about as much, but Izumi also likes to cover all of his bases.

“Moricchi is so not my type, Senacchi, you know that,” Kaoru scowls, dragging out the ‘o’ in ‘so.’ “You're being pretty nosy, you know that?”

“You come into class proudly looking like you got chewed on, and I'm not supposed to ask questions? Quit deflecting, Kao-kun,” Izumi shoots back. He turns instead to Chiaki, and raises one delicate eyebrow. Chiaki looks up from using his phone as mirror, and grins, still embarrassed.

“While Hakaze is quite handsome,”--Kaoru’s sputtering cough from choking on his food is gracefully ignored by his classmates-- “I went on a date yesterday, and was lucky enough afterwards to… make love… with my companion….” the end of Chiaki’s sentence is muffled, his face once again going red. (The date had been fun and comfortable, the sex even more so; Chiaki doesn't say it to Izumi and Kaoru, but he knows he likes the person a lot.)

Izumi sighs, mildly exasperated. “I forgot how bad you were at talking about sex, Morisawa, Christ.” Izumi turns again to Kaoru, expectant.

“Fine, fine, if Moricchi’s sharing, I guess I have to. I went on a date with a real cutie on Saturday, and I got laid. I don't like to kiss and tell, but it was pretty great,” Kaoru follows up the statement with a wink. (The date had been so relaxing, it didn't even matter that it was with a guy; Kaoru’s been trying to deny anything like real feelings for him since Saturday--maybe even before.)

Izumi rolls his eyes at Kaoru’s phrasing, as usual. “So you both don't think it's strange that you have hickies the exact same shape, more or less, in the exact same place, more or less?” Izumi presses, frowning at the both of them. 

“Not particularly,” Kaoru shrugs, not keen on pressing the topic. Chiaki, however, looks thoughtful.

“Maybe it is a little strange…” Chiaki mutters, chewing thoughtfully. “Hakaze, who did you go on a date with?” Its Kaoru’s turn to go red.

“N-no one you know,” Kaoru hedges, but the slight stutter gives him away. Izumi latches onto it like a bloodhound on a trail.

“So it's definitely someone we know, got it,” Izumi mutters. “Let's see if he loosens up after you share again, Morisawa. Who’d you go on a date with on Sunday?”

Chiaki’s voice is soft, fond when he admits, “My companion was Kanata.” The end of his sentence, however, nearly goes unheard over Kaoru’s sudden loud squawk of “what.”

In that instant, everything clicks for Izumi.

“Oh my god,” Izumi says, putting down his chopsticks. “You both definitely slept with fucking Shinkai Kanata, within twenty-four hours of each other.” And with that, he starts laughing a little hysterically. Neither Chiaki or Kaoru make any move to deny it, but do stare at each other in a mix of curiosity, and, perhaps, a touch of growing anxiety. 

Noticing this, Izumi stops laughing, another realization dawning on him.

“You guys had no idea about each other, did you,” Izumi questions, tone flat. At both Kaoru and Chiaki’s negative, Izumi sighs tiredly. 

“You're both going to have to talk to him.”

~~~ 

Monday afternoon finds Kanata up to his shoulders in the school fountain, as is his way in the warmer months (and the cooler months, and--unfortunately--the cold months). Today has been nothing out of the ordinary for him, thus far (aside from occasionally remembering how pleasant his weekend had been). There are no unit activities for Ryuseitai today, and the marine life club meeting he had scheduled could certainly take place in the fountain, if anyone bothers to show up. Kanata, therefore, expects a quiet afternoon to bubble, largely alone.

What he does not expect, therefore, are his two favorite people walking up together to his fountain. Kanata waves happily at Kaoru and Chiaki, sitting up from where he was bathing to talk to them. He makes no move to get out of the fountain.

“Ryusei Blue! We have a question for you,” Chiaki calls out as he and Kaoru get close to the fountain. Chiaki looks nervous, Kanata notices, fidgeting and wringing his hands. Kaoru, by his side, looks nervous too, but possibly also annoyed, if the set of his jaw and the hand on his hip are any indication. Kanata idly wonders what could be wrong.

“Mm... yes, Chiaki?” Kanata says, slowly as usual, cocking his head to one side. Chiaki takes a deep breath, composing himself.

“Did you sl-- I mean to say, did you make lo-- I mean, this weekend, did you have s-se--” 

Kaoru smoothly cuts in, cutting off Chiaki’s stuttering. “What Moricchi is trying to ask, Kanata-kun, is did you sleep with both of us this past weekend?”

Kanata, in response, smiles happily. “Yes, I ‘did,’ Kaoru,” he replies, leaning down on his arms on the ledge of the fountain, “Kaoru and I went to the ‘beach’ on Saturday, and Chiaki and I saw the ‘jellyfish movie’ on Sunday.” Kanata takes in both Chiaki and Kaoru’s nervous postures again, though, and frowns. “Was that ‘no good?’”

“It's not that it wasn't good!” Chiaki jumps in at Kanata’s falling expression, “it's just that, maybe, you should have let us know about each other.” Kanata cocks his head the other direction, confused.

“Why? I didn't ‘agree’ to only have sex with Chiaki, or to only have sex with Kaoru,” Kanata pouts. “I didn't know that was a ‘rule.’”

Kaoru sighs. “It's not a rule, Kanata-kun, and you're right, we definitely didn't agree to be exclusive.”

“Then why is it ‘no good?’ I ‘like’ Kaoru, and I ‘like’ Chiaki,” Kanata replies, still confused. Chiaki smiles broadly at those words, and Kaoru feels his cheeks go warm.

“Kanata,” Chiaki says, still grinning, “I like you, too!”

“Likewise,” Kaoru replies awkwardly, not meeting anyone's eyes. “But that still means we have a problem. Who do you like more, Kanata-kun?” Kaoru continues, feeling a knot of anxiety in his chest he tries to will away. Chiaki, beside him, visibly deflates.

“Ah, yes, who do you like best, Blue? You’re only supposed to date one person,” Chiaki asks, his voice flat and a little resigned. He's back to fidgeting, both Kaoru and Kanata notice.

“Why do I have to ‘date’ only one person?” Kanata questions, frowning. “Chiaki and Kaoru are both ‘good,’ and I ‘like’ both best.”

Chiaki perks back up, but Kaoru frowns. “You can't really pick both, Kanata-kun,” Kaoru says, frustrated. Kanata couldn't re-write every single rule of dating Kaoru knew of, that was absurd.

Kanata takes Kaoru's hand in one of his soft (slightly damp) hands, and then takes Chiaki’s in the other. He squeezes both of their hands.

“Kaoru,” Kanata says, softly, “I like ‘both’ best. I want to ‘date’ Chiaki and Kaoru.”

Kaoru looks a little helplessly at Chiaki. “Moricchi, you can't be ok with this, right?” Kaoru questions, his heart beating a little too fast in his ears. Instead of any hesitation, though, Kaoru finds that Chiaki just looks thoughtful.

“I… like Kanata a lot, and I know you're a good guy, Hakaze. I’m ok with this if you are,” Chiaki says slowly, after a moment's thought, punctuating his statement with a bright and confident smile. 

Kaoru turns then to Kanata, who’s smiling softly up at him, and who's still holding his hand. He can feel all his arguments crumbling against the combined strength of Chiaki and Kanata’s smiles. He takes a deep breath, and then slowly let's it out.

“Yeah… ok, I'm good with it. We can.. try this. Both dating Kanata. Ok.” Kaoru says slowly, squeezing Kanata’s hand back. Kanata's smile grows even brighter.

“One more question, though,” Kaoru says to Kanata, taking back his hand to gesture at his collarbone. “Why did you give us both hickies in the exact same spot?”

“Oh…” Kanata says thoughtfully, “I wanted a ‘taste.’ People taste ‘good’ there.” And that answer is just so Kanata, slightly off-putting but mostly so charming, that Kaoru just has to laugh how ridiculous this all is. Chiaki joins in a moment later, reaching, apparently, the same conclusion. Kanata, between them, just smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you just have to write something particularly self-indulgent. This is my favorite poly ship, and I hope it amused at least a few of you. Shout out to my pals on twitter for bullying me in to finishing this.


End file.
